Important Tips for Newbies

These are critical, since the factory bumper itself is not strong enough to hook to, if someone needs to pull you out of a "stuck." It is sometimes necessary to "jerk" a Jeep out of a mudhole, since a steady pull often will not get the job done.

It is very important that a tow hook bolted directly to the frame or a or a D-ring mounted to a heavy after market bumper is used as a tow point. The load rating for the tow hook should be at least three times the weight of the vehicle, so that it can handle the shock load when you need to be jerked out. Just as important as the load rating of the tow hook is the strength of the bolts used to attach them. Use grade 8 bolts.

Get a 20' to 30' tow strap with a load rating of about 20K lbs. Be sure to get the type with loops on the ends, and NOT the metal hooks. Those metal hooks can kill someone, if the strap slips off or breaks! You need the high load rating for "jerking" vehicles out of bad stucks.

A CB radio is a MUST, if you are going to go offroading with your Jeep. The cheapest Walmart CB you can buy will be fine for the short range needed for communicating on the trail. I bought the Maxon brand "el cheapo" from Walmart, and it does fine for my purposes. It was less than $40.00 .

You should be a able to get in business for well under $100 for the radio, coax, and antenna.

You must be able to communicate with other Jeeps on the trail, so a CB is essential. If someone is nice enough to take you out and help you get started wheelin', you should be considerate enough to be sure that they have a means of communicating with you without their having to get out of their Jeep and walk back to you.

I look back with shame on the day that I was wheelin' for only about my second time. I was with some guys from the Central Illinois Jeep Club at Badlands in Attica, Indiana. I did not have a CB, and one of the poor guys from CIJC had to get out of his Jeep and walk back to me to relay messages several times during the day. (Thanks, Ray!) These guys were nice enough to let a rookie tag along with them, and I didn't even have one of the essential items for wheelin'. I didn't know any better before then, but that day taught me the importance of having a CB.

It is good to start wheelin' with a stock Jeep. Not to burst your bubble, but if you are brand new to wheelin', your Jeep is MUCH more capable, even bone stock, than the driver. Why should you be worried about enhancing the capabilities of your Jeep when you are not yet prepared to take advantage of the Jeep's current capabilities?

It makes sense to develop your skills and only make mods to enhance the Jeep's capabilities when you have developed your driving skills to the point that the Jeep becomes the limiting factor in where you can go and what you can do.

With a stock Jeep, you will have to learn to pick the best line, instead of just blasting through something with a built-up Jeep.

Also, you will have time to observe how other Jeeps with various mods are performing and talk to their owners to get advice. You can take the time to learn which mods are best for the type of wheelin' you will be doing.

Maybe I should differentiate between "wheelin'" and driving your Jeep around on forest or farm roads, or playing in mud holes on flat land. I wouldn't even recommend that you get too far from civilization on forest roads, if you don't have another vehicle with you, but I am not talking about that: I am talking about "off roading" when I say "wheelin'."

Off roading is just what the name implies: you are driving on terrain that is NOT a road. You might be driving up a gully, with the tires of your Jeep getting traction on the sidewalls instead of on the tread. You will pass through places that make your Jeep lean far over to the left or to the right much more than you would ever experience on an actual road. You will climb so steeply that you can only see sky and tree tops through the windshield, and you will go down slopes just as steep. You will climb over rocks and logs.

These things are all part of what I call "wheelin'," and I don't think it should be hard to understand why you would always want someone with you when you are doing these things.

Also, as a beginner, you will need someone to help you learn what is "doable" and what to leave alone. This is one of the hardest things to learn, and there is no substitute for experience.

You can be overly conservative and miss out on the fun, or you can be too bold and get into something too tough and get into BIG trouble. I was fortunate as a newbie to have someone guide me into challenging, fun stuff without getting me in over my head. I try to pass this favor on to newbies whenever I have one with me.

I would like to publicly thank some of my earliest wheelin' buds who took the time to help a rookie. The first time I ever wheeled was with Rod Keeling, a guy who I hooked up with via the Internet. Rod did a great job guiding me that day, February 15, 2002. It's very strange, but Rod and I have never hooked up again since that day. He started some kind of work that didn't allow him time to go wheelin' any more.

I guess my second "mentor" was Chad Tucker. Chad sold me the Procomp 2" lift that I have on Thelma Jane, and he even installed it for me. Chad and I haven't been able to hook up on any kind of regular basis for a long time, but I will always remember how good Chad was to me. Thanks, Chad.

Then, there's good old Mike Brewer. I met Mike on one of my very earliest wheelin' trips to Turkey Bay, and Mike really took me on as a "project." Mike is a trail guide at Turkey Bay and at at least one other location for Jeep Jamborees. Mike, thanks! Nobody could have had a better teacher.

Unlike the situations with my other early wheelin' buds, Mike and I have been able to hook up on a pretty regular basis. Just wish Mike could go EVERY weekend, like I do! :)

I will remember until the day I die how amazed I was by what a stock Jeep would do when I went wheelin' that first time. On my own, I would not have attempted half the stuff we did that day, but I had an experienced wheeler as a trail guide, Rod, and he led me into some fun stuff. I watched him head into some places and thought, "Oh my Lord, he doesn't expect me to follow him through there, does he?" Well, I followed, and good old Thelma Jane went right through those places like there was nothin' to it!

The way to get into this wonderful hobby of wheelin' is to find at least one experienced person to take you under his wing and help you get started. If you can find a Jeep club in your area, that would be even better. I am ALWAYS glad to help someone get started wheelin. For one thing, I feel like I am repaying the debt that I owe to the people who were so kind in helping me when I first started. Also, it is just plain fun to see the eyes light up and to hear the excitement in the voice of a newbie as he discovers the crazy things that his Jeep will do.

Well, to be honest, there's almost a certainty that you will get some light scratches from tree limbs, if you wheel at a place like Turkey Bay, which is heavily wooded.

If I am the guy that takes you out, I will do my best to keep you out of places where any real damage would occur, but, of course, there's no guarantee.

You must be willing to take your chances, if you want to go through the "fun" places.

Believe me, I was the world's most anal person about a vehicle's appearance. Every new vehicle that I ever bought could have been put back in the show room and sold as new after I had owned it a year or two (never used to keep a vehicle very long, but Thelma Jane changed that!). I kept my cars and trucks spotless inside and out.

When I got Thelma Jane, I started off with her just like I had treated all my previous new cars. I washed her and waxed her, and kept her clean inside. Heck, I was so bad that I even stopped at rest areas on long trips, got wet paper towels from the mens room, and wiped the bug guts off of Thelma's grill!

I had owned Thelma Jane for 14 months before I was willing to take her off road. She was in showroom new condition the day she went wheelin' the first time.

I had read lots of posts in Jeep websites about people wheelin' their Jeeps and having so much fun. I just HAD to give it a try! Well, it was as much fun as I expected and THEN SOME! I was hooked!

It obviously depends on what kind of terrain you are willing to attempt as far as what the chances of damge will be and what kind of damage you might get.

After nearly two years of wheelin' almost EVERY weekend, Thelma Jane still looks good, at least to me she does. I still care about how she looks, and I wash her after wheelin' trips and try to keep her clean between trips to Turkey Bay.

She has her battle scars, of course, but nothing that just jumps out at you when you see her. Both of her tub corners have been dented and scratched, her flares have been scrubbed against the sides of gullies, and both of her front fenders have been pushed in a little by trees, but I pulled 'em back out pretty close to straight. Her paint on her body and hard top has about a million light scratches from brush.

If you would like to see what Thelma Jane looks like after nearly two years of being wheeled almost every weekend, just click on the two pics of her below. They were taken 12/31/03. I don't think she looks too bad.

Are you willing to take your chances? If so, you will find that wheelin' your Jeep is the most fun you have ever had with your clothes on! You will find out what your Jeep was "born to do." And, you will have a whole new respect and admiration for your Jeep. Your Jeep will thank you for it! :)

Assuming that you already have the tow hooks, tow strap, and CB that I listed as absolute necessities, then there are some good early mods in the build-up of your Jeep.

Most of these early mods are not going to be "sexy" items that change the appearance of your Jeep or make it a much more capable Jeep. Other than the tires, the early mods that I will be recommending are more for protection rather than for enhancing the capability of your Jeep.

Probably the best early mod that you can do that will help you get around on the trails more easily (and will make your Jeep LOOK better) is to get some good tires. Usually, the tires that you will get on your Jeep from the factory are going to be tires that were designed much more for highway use than for off road use. This is definitely true of the Goodyear GSA's that are standard on so many Jeeps. Many people say that "GSA" stands for "Get Stuck Anywhere."

If your Jeep is brand new, trade in those factory tires for some type of All Terrain tire at a minimum, or even better, for some Mud tires. You can often get a VERY good trade-in allowance on those factory tires that have just a few thousand miles on them or less.

I recommend Mud tires rather than All Terrains, but that is because of the type of wheelin that I do. If you are out west and do almost all rock crawling, then I guess an All Terrain tire is good for your purposes. (I wouldn't know, since I have never done any rock crawling.)

Stock TJs can accommodate 31" x 10.50" tires, so you might as well get that size. If you want a larger diameter tire, you will need some kind of lift, but the 31's will work with no lift at all.

I first bought 31 x 10.50 BFG All Terrains, getting a SUPER trade-in allowance on my factory 30" GSA's. After some experience on the trails, I could see that while the All Terrains were OK, they still left something to be desired, especially in mud. (I had already gone to the All Terrains before ever going wheelin', so I have no direct comparison between the ATs and the GSA's.) I then traded in the All Terrains, once again getting a real good trade-in allowance, and got some 31 x 10.50 BFG Mud Terrains. Now those puppies get the job done! I really like the BFG Muds.

You have to consider the type of terrain that you will be wheelin in your tire selection. For me, with the frequent encounters with mud, a mud tire makes sense. I avoid mud when I can, but at Turkey Bay, you can't possibly avoid all of the mud. I would think this would be true of almost any wheelin area east of the Mississippi.

After taking care of the tire situation, probably the best money you could spend would be for a gas tank skid. I believe they have been improved beginning with the 03 Wranglers, but the factory gas tank skid before then was really a joke. It was way too light to protect the gas tank from damage. I'll bet the new factory skids aren't all that much better.

You have more than the gas tank itself to worry about, if you slam down the rear of the Jeep on something. The fuel pump sits in the bottom of the gas tank, so, even if there is no damage to the gas tank, the fuel pump could be damaged.

Believe me, it is VERY common at Turkey Bay to come off of a steep bank and slam the rear of the Jeep on something just after the front tires reach the bottom and you begin to level out.

I bought a Kilby gas tank skid for Thelma Jane, and I am WELL pleased with it. I think you have to do a body lift on Jeeps beginning with the 03 model year to install a Kilby. That wasn't necessary on Thelma Jane, since she is an 01. A body lift is a good mod too, although I haven't yet installed one, so you can accomplish a couple different things if you install a body lift and a Kilby gas tank skid.

(From all that I have learned, you DO NOT want to go with more than a one inch body lift. No one has a problem with a one inch body lift, and most people actually recommend them, but I have seen MANY posts warning that long term problems can be caused by more than a one inch body lift. It has to do with the stress induced by the movement of the body with its increased height above the frame, sort of like the way the force is increased as you move farther from the fulcrum on a lever.)

Maybe a quick explanation as to what a body lift actually is would be in order here. A body lift kit is made up of spacers and longer bolts to replace the factory spacers and bolts, so that the body is lifted further above the frame than it was as the Jeep came from the factory. I have read that there are 11 body mount positions on the TJs.

What you are after in doing a body lift is more tire clearance in the fender wells, so that you can fit bigger tires on your Jeep. Also, as I have pointed out, beginning with the 03s, a body lift is needed in order to install a Kilby gas tank skid.

Body lifts have the advantage that you can gain tire clearance without raising the frame (and, therefore, the transfer case) higher in relationship to the axles. A suspension lift raises the frame and all, and this changes the driveline angle between the transfer case and the differentials, which, in turn, can cause U-joints to have to operate outside of their designed angle range. When this happens, you get driveline vibrations.

It will be necessary to relocate the radiator, since it will come up with the body, but the radiator fan will not. Some people also do a one inch motor mount lift at the same time that the body lift is installed, and this makes it unnecessary to relocate the radiator, since the fan and the radiator will both come up one inch from their original positions. From all I can gather, the radiator relocation is easy, and the necessary hardware is included in the body lift kit, but the motor mount lift can be a pain.

I am seriously thinking about a body lift as my next mod for Thelma Jane. They are relatively inexpensive, and the tire clearance you gain is "free," with respect to driveline angles and the related complications.

A steering box skid is another real good early mod. That round thing that you can see just below the bumper on the drivers side is your steering box. It is totally exposed and just begging to be hit by something.